THEMED ENTERTAINMENT
MASTER PLANNING
SILK ROAD PARADISE - Master Plan
Master plan for Silk Road Paradise, an entertainment destination with rides, shops, and restaurants, organized in seven themed "zones" (China, India, Russia etc), for Xi'an, China, celebrating the major regions or markets along the historic Silk Road.
Each zone or region is themed to capture its architectural and cultural sensibility, fully immersing the visitor in the experience, including rides and attractions,, a major themed restaurant, and retail featuring merchandize and fashions inspired by the region. There will be interactive shows and displays, live performers, and scenic elements to each region, so that each is unique and full of variety and surprise.
Read MASTER PLAN below.
GREAT PLAINS – Origin Story
The Great Plains Origin Story was researched and drafted to serve theme park development by providing underpinnings for design and experiential concepts for a Great Plains “land” rooted in the region’s history, culture, values and practices.
It highlights key historical events such as the western expansion and the Civil War, discusses the role of cattle raising and homesteading in its settlement, and draws on key literary texts such as Little House on the Prairie, My Antonia, and the Wizard of Oz it identify and explore its world, historic evolution, and mythology.
Read GREAT PLAINS - Origin Story below.
QUEENSWAY, LONG BEACH - Mixed Use Retail/Entertainment Project
The narrative proposal for Queensway, Long Beach, a shopping/entertainment destination developed for OliverMcMillan, a San Diego-based real estate company, incorporating the Southwest love on outdoor living and a cosmopolitan taste for glamour and style in food, fashion, and entertainment, centered around WorldCentre public plaza featuring a jumbotron with changing rotation of music videos, exotic locales, and retail ads, and the water show "The World Beneath The Waves" celebrating life teaming within the ocean’s depth with a water wall as projection screen and dancing waters timed to music.
Read the PROPOSAL below.
KOREAN SPACE CENTER/FUTURE CITY - “Blue Sky” Proposals
Two “blue sky” master plan concepts prepared for a Korean developer:
1) a technology office park anchored by a Space/Science Center creating a destination attraction. The Center would be a three-story double helix with an inside ramp leading to exhibits, theaters, and interactive displays with a series of spheres outside mimicking the size and distances between planets in our solar system.
2) Future City would be a new city built around a research/business incubator and OneWorld Research and Conference Center in GwangJu, Korea. Its centerpiece would be the OneWorld Dome, the world’s largest geodesic, enclosing botanical gardens, linked by tram to research and manufacturing Incubators. OneWorld Conference Complex will consist of the Conference Hotel, shaped like a triangle and The Cube, a multi-purpose convention/performing arts complex.
Read concept treatments below.
RIDES AND ATTRACTIONS
FURY OF THE DRAGON KING
"Fury of the Dragon King" - story treatment for a on-water stunt show rooted in Chinese mythology. Bad boy but good-hearted deity Nezha battles the evil Dragon King and his henchmen to free a fishing village the Dragon King has enslaved. At moment of victory he is captured, only to be rescued by his mother Lady Yin. Together they vanquish the Dragon King and his henchmen, freeing the village. A mix of on-water and land-based stunts, story reversals, and comedy ending with Lady Yin reining in her preening victorious son Nezha that it’s time to go home for dinner.
Read script narrative including queue line and preshow below.
ADVENTURE DREAM
"Adventure Dream" - concept for live show for Universal Studios Beijing. JUN is filled with wide-eyed dreams that carry her into her own fantasy dreamland and through her adventures, re-discovers how much she values the people in her real world. Show would incorporate dance, acrobatics, and trapeze in its storytelling as Jun’s fantasies imagine her as a movie star and carry her around the world accompanying her pop star idol WANG, only to return her with a fresh appreciation of her lovely GRANDMOTHER, and best friend TING.
Read script narrative below.
IT’S ALIVE! EXPLORE THE MYSTERIOUS PLANET W95R
"It’s Alive! Explore the Mysterious Planet W95R" - story treatment for an omnimover comic sci-fi dark ride. As members of the Intergalactic Scout Team, GUESTS explore whether the mysterious planet W95R is a living orgasm, penetrating its vast cloud cover only to escape a series of comic misadventures under clueless guidance of our oblivious CAPTAIN - and safely return to earth, having survived to tell the tale!
Read script narrative below.
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND
“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” - story treatment for suspended coaster dark ride. VISITORS experience ALICE’s adventures as she follows the WHITE RABBIT through a series of elaborate theatrical sets and complex multimedia elements including animatronics, digitized CG animation, and special effects including steam and lighting effects that climax with the MAD HATTER’s Tea Party, followed by the QUEEN OF HEART’s pursuit of Alice down and around until visitors glide back to safety.
Read script narrative below.
ST. LOUIS UNION STATION - VIDEO MAPPING
“St. Louis Union Station — Video Mapping” consisted of three early concept treatments for an eight-minute video experience to be projected on vaulted ceiling of the Grand Hall of the St. Louis Union Station DoubleTree Hotel, the former waiting room of the historic 1894 Romanesque train station. creating a signature experience unique, entertaining, and memorable. The three treatments were “All Aboard!” the romance of the railroads, “Meet Me at Union Station!” kaleidoscope of St. Louis, then and now set to ragtime, and “You Gotta See St Louis!” A playful celebration of all things St. Louis.
Read the three narratives below.
LIVE EVENTS/EVENT PLANNING
CITY NATIONAL BANK ANNUAL OFFICERS MEETING
As a long-term freelance writer in the Marketing Department of Beverly Hills-based business bank City National Bank (CNB), I worked on multiple Annual Officers Meetings, developing theming, drafting meeting treatments, writing and co-producing video segments, and speechwriting. CNB took great pride in its Entertainment Division and celebrity clientele. So one of my tasks was to write, coordinate, and on occasion direct video endorsements of the bank from celebrities such as Whoppi Goldberg, Little Ricard, and Pierce Brosnan.
Read “The Secret to Our Success” Meeting Proposal, “The City National Difference” video treatment, and remarks prepared for Pierce Brosnan.
KAUST GROUNDBEAKING CEREMONY - Proposal
”A King’s Vision/A Kingdom’s Future” - concept treatment for groundbreaking ceremony for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). KAUST was conceptualized as Saudi Arabia’s premier science and technology university, drawing students and faculty from within the Kingdom, the Middle East and from the world. The ceremony needed to recognize the role of the ROYAL FAMILY as well as the the University’s goal presence and the hopes and aspirations of students today and tomorrow - and the impact they will have in making a better world for all.
Read concept treatment below.
MATTEL ANNUAL GIRL’S MEETING
I worked on numerous projects for Mattel, including writing numerous Toy Fair and Pre-Toy Fair gallery scripts promoting Disney-themed toys for Pocahontas and Lion King as well as Barbie and Hot Wheels. I also wrote speeches for the Marketing Department and developed the theme and script for the Annual Girl’s Meeting (their annual officers meeting) writing speeches for the CEO and Manager of Marketing Department using jugglers to illustrate her messaging.
Read Meeting Proposal and speeches for CEO and Marketing Manager below
MUSEUM / AQUARIUM / SCIENCE
FOREST LAWN MUSEUM REDESIGN
The Gendale Forest Lawn Museum and Hall Hall of Crucifixion-Resurrection with its pair of majestic panoramic paintings were once a prime tourist destination, daily filling its auditorium with busloads of tourists. But times and tastes change and the exhibit had fallen off the tourist map. The purpose of Forest lawn Museum Redesign was to reposition the Museum and paintings in a contemporary global context of “Faith Made Visible – Art and Architecture of the World’s Great Faiths” – an exhibit that explores humanity’s spiritual voyage, expressed in stone, stained glass, and paint, exploring how the three faiths of “The Book” – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – have interpreted and expressed themselves through art and architecture.
Read Redesign Proposal below.
AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC
I was brought onboard during the content development phase for the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific exhibits, assigned to write and help edit video components that would engage, inform, and entertain VISITORS on a wide variety of topics including corals, sea drifters and jellies, sea otters, the underwater world of Palau, diving sea birds and their nesting habits, California kelp forests, and the giant Pacific octopus.
See excerpts from videos below.
Saint Peter and the Vatican – The Legacy of the Popes
I was hired to write a series of videos for the traveling exhibition “Saint Peter and the Vatican – The Legacy of the Popes” featuring the largest collection of objects from the Vatican to tour North America presents illustrating the Vatican's impact on history and culture through 2,000 years Many of these objects had never left the Vatican or been on public view. The opening video provided a brief history of the Vatican and two basilicas built on the site of St. Peter’s tomb and its importance to global Catholicism.
Read script for opening video below.
COSMIC SMACKDOWN
I developed a spec proposal for “Cosmic Smackdown! Sir Francis Bacon vs Rachel Carson” as a live museum show addressing climate change with prominent climate journalist and author. Dianne Dumanoski It was designed to be a celebrity game show showdown pitting Francis Bacon, returning Cosmic Hero champion and father of the scientific method, against challenger Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring and mother of the modern environmental movement. The live show used comedy, satire, and audience participation to create an accessible and memorable entertainment that was also provocative and smart in addressing serious issues.
Read proposal below.